


When The Sun Sets (Louis After-Hours)

by slightly_murderous_sorcerer (emerald_witch_esmeralda)



Category: Versailles (TV 2015)
Genre: Fluff, I ship Louis and Bontemps and I’m not scared to admit it, Lots of talk about hair, M/M, Old Friends, Old Married Couple, Oneshot, Their bond historically and in the show is just...awwww, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and sex of course, basically drabble about old man cuddles, cuz the hair is GLORIOUS, life doesn’t stop just cuz you’re old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 12:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19745791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emerald_witch_esmeralda/pseuds/slightly_murderous_sorcerer
Summary: Everyone rejoices in the Sun King’s dazzling rise, but has anybody ever witnessed when the sun goes down? That is a more private show, reserved for only a special few...here is a rare glimpse into that sunset.





	When The Sun Sets (Louis After-Hours)

In Louis XIV’s bedchamber, it was quiet. Strangely quiet, without all the show and pageantry of the mornings that accompanied the rising of the sun. There were no crowds, no squabbling about who would hand the king his shirt or shoes, no throngs or cutthroat noblemen, and no waking up at too fucking early o’clock in the morning to force oneself to greet the day. Here, it was just the king, his tired bones and his devoted valet as the golden, glittering mask he wore during the day slowly started to crumble. Louis drops his heavily embroidered outer robe and only stood in his thin nightshirt, the moonlight outlining every curve of his body and his silver hair, once dark as wood, taking on a white halo. As he handed the robe to Bontemps to put away, Alexandre gasped in the back of his throat. _He looks even more divine than usual. Like an angel._  
“Are you staring at something, Alexandre? Like what you see?”  
“Er...”  
“It’s nothing that you’ve not seen before, mon ami. Why is your reaction so different now?” Louis asked bemusedly, smirking at the scarlet that flooded Bontemps’ round cheeks. “N...no Sire!” The valet immediately cleared his throat, snowy ringlets falling around his shoulders as he did so.  
“It’s quite alright...in fact, I’m surprised. And pleased.”  
“How so?”  
“Well, the court doesn’t say anything but they know it as well as I. I grow old, the sun is losing some of its luster. Dimming, no longer burning as hot and you...still think me beautiful? Even now?” Alexandre brushed a strand of silvery hair out of his king’s face and tucked it gently behind his ear, a flush appearing on both men’s cheeks. “You are the fairest creature God ever made, Louis. And that’s not just empty flattery, that is what I truly feel.” Piercing blue eyes pinned down deep brown for what seemed like an eternity when Bontemps shook his head, stepping back. “Come, Sire. Let’s get you ready for bed.” Louis stepped over toward his vanity and allowed Alexandre to remove his hair from the braid it was in, brushing out the tangles. “Louis After-Hours.”  
“Majesty?”  
“This is the great Sun King after hours...without the wigs and the heels and the glitz and the glamour. It’s just...me, myself and I. And you’re one of the few people who gets to witness it. Don’t call me Majesty or Sire, not now.”  
“Very well then...Louis.” Alexandre ran a hand through Louis’ hair and the king turned pink. Even with their current relationship...changed the way it has, it was hard for the older man to completely shake the formalities.  
“I feel like...like you really know the real me, you know? I don’t have to pretend with you, and that’s important to me. You’ve seen me at my worst, at my least kingly, and you’ve stuck by me though all of that...I mean, you’ve even seen parts of me that my brother has never seen. I realize that I don’t say it nearly enough, but I appreciate that so much. And Alexandre...how do you even do it? How do you put up with me?”  
“I suppose the same way your brother does.” Alexandre said, his turn to be bemused. “Because I love you. You have not always made that easy, but I love you. And always will.  
“I love you too, you know. And...I thank you.” Louis took one of Bontemps’ hands, holding it to his face for a little while and brushing the palm with his lips before releasing it. “See? You can be so very kind when you want to be. So sweet, loving even. But other times, you can be a right devil.”  
“Never a devil.” Louis snorted. “I am born of God.”  
“Of course Sir...Louis. Whatever you say.” Finally, Alexandre was done, and the two of them retired to their own beds.  
“Goodnight, Bontemps.”  
“Goodnight, Louis.”  


  


  


  
Louis pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders when the gust of wind blew over the room, trying to hide the fact that he was shivering. Poor Alexandre was always chiding him about his habit of keeping the windows open, afraid of them being sickened by bad air. Louis thought that fresh air constantly flowing would be healthier, but now he was sorely regretting it. Turning over to peer over the side of the bed, he saw his valet curled up as small as possible under his own blanket as if trying to get warm himself. “Are you cold down there, Alexandre?”  
“A bit chilly, Sire. But not much...I will be fine.”  
“I’m a bit chilly too. Why not come up here, we can help warm each other.”  
“Are you sure? It would be...highly irregular.”  
“Oh, I’m very sure. We’ve long passed the “highly irregular” stage years ago, so you can drop the coy act. Now you’re cold and I’m cold, come up here and warm me.”  
“You young guys are so demanding.” The valet slipped into the empty side of the large bed, Louis tossing him part of the blanket. “We haven’t been young for quite some time and you know it.” “Compared to me, you’re young. Can’t have you catching a chill.” Alexandre quipped playfully, cuddling closer to his king. “Lord knows you’re a nightmare when you’re sick.”  
“I wasn’t THAT bad!” Louis whined into his pillow.  
“You were absolutely horrid, Sire. You threw things at the poor physicians! “Unhand me! Stop touching me! I’m too hot, I’m too cold! I’m tired of soup! Poke me again and I’ll have you beheaded!”  
“Okay, we get it!” Louis responded, a sharp edge in his voice.  


  
“You always told me to be frank, and so I am.” Burrowing his head against Louis’ shoulder, he pressed a kiss there through the fabric. “Would you love me the same if I were not?”  
“Hmmm...perhaps not.” Louis turned on his side so that the two of them were face to face, putting an arm around Alexandre and pressing their lips together. “Would _you_ love me the same if I were any less of a drama queen?”  
“No...I wouldn’t want you to be anything different than what you are. I like Louis After-Hours, when I get to see the real you.” He slid a hand under Louis’ nightshirt, and the other man’s breath hitched. “Wha...what are you doing, Alexandre?”  
“Well, you are the sun, my king. The sun presided over all the affairs of the day...but during the night, you are mine. Isn’t that what you said to me when we started this?”  
“That sounds like something I would sa...ah!” Louis pulled the other man close, groaning into his neck as he got to work on the ties of his valet’s breeches. “Why do you never take these off?“  
“I like to be prepared at all ti...fuck!” Louis had gotten his own hand around his lover’s prick now. “I like that I can still catch you off guard, dear Bontemps.” Alexandre merely nipped at Louis’ shoulder at that, and the king chuckled breathily. “We’ll both be warm soon enough, looks like.” Alexandre panted. With a few more tugs, the valet came first and Louis swallowed his cry with a kiss, riding out his own wave very soon after. They clung to each other for a long while after that, trying to catch their breaths. After a bit, Alexandre rolled off of Louis and went back to the empty side of the bed, but prevented from separating completely by the king. “Don’t go too far away, I like having you close.”  
“No place in the world I’d rather be.” Arms around each other, they settled into a slow, even breathing, their whole world narrowing to just the two of them and this room. Louis pulled on one of his valet’s snowy ringlets and watched it spring gently back, staring at their combined reflection in the faraway mirror the whole while. “Curls. You have such beautiful curls, I wish I had them naturally but unfortunately I do not. Not all of us can be so blessed.” Alexandre had kept his hair relatively short for convenience, but it was thick and healthy. “Your hair flows like quicksilver, Louis. It’s beautiful in its own right.”  
“You say the sweetest things, chéri.”  
“I feel so damned lucky in these moments. Where it’s just the two of us and nothing else matters. More than even the late Queen.”  
“As do I. But why do you feel so lucky?” “Because, everybody loves to watch the sunrise. They’re blinded by the glory of it all, the glitter, the heat and the warmth. They get to bask in your light all day long, and they think they see the best of you. But I know better, because although the sun is indeed glorious in its rising, it’s equally as glorious in its setting. And while it rises for all of France, it sets for only you and I. This is ours, and ours alone.”  
“Just us.” Louis whispered back, watching the two of them in the mirror until sleep claimed them both.  


**Author's Note:**

> Basically this is a drabbly oneshot that doesn’t really make any particular sense but I thought it was cute so I decided to upload it anyway. I’ve decided to use the characters’ historical appearances (mostly), Bontemps wasn’t as old as he was portrayed in the series, but he’s kinda old now because...this is an AU when they’re both old so...in this AU, Louis is 63 and Alexandre 75


End file.
